NATARAJA : From Icon to Abstraction

 Written by: Shuchi Mathur

 “It is the clearest image of the activity of God which any art or religion can boast of.” 

-Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy.

The image of Nataraja, the cosmic dancer, has travelled through time not just as an icon but as an evolving concept. From Kushana coins in the 1st-century BCE and sculptures in 6th-century cave temples to living traditions and modern reinterpretations, the figure of Shiva as the Lord of Dance continues to resonate in Indic art and beyond.

The Chola bronze isn’t ‘art’ in the modern sense, but ‘pratima’, an embodiment of divinity. Every feature, each iconographic detail, is canonised by ancient treatises. 

In the hands of provincial artists in medieval Thanjavur, it was transformed into a gilded ornament—a glowing domestic presence. Opulent yet intimate, it offers a tender portrayal of devotion to Lord Shiva, attended by his consort Parvati and their sons, Ganesha and Kartikeya. The lower register depicts Nandi, flanked by Bhikshatana Shiva, Brahma, Krishna and the three-legged Bhringi. 

In a modern abstract interpretation of Nataraja, Op artist Bridget Riley eliminates the subject entirely. She plays with sharp diagonals and colours, arranging them with mathematical precision to create a frisson of energy that resonates with Shiva’s dance of destruction. Riley’s work refuses to represent. It seeks, instead, to evoke. 

An abstract interpretation of Nataraja by Op artist Bridget Riley.

Contemporary artist Avinash Karn’s Nataraja carries ritual forward into revival. Working within the Maithili tradition, his linework remains anchored in canonical forms, yet responds to contemporary concerns, addressing ecology and sustainability. The form is indigenous, but its function has been adapted to new contexts.

Nataraja by Avinash Karn.

Eminent art historian Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, speaking on the Nataraja, stated: “It is the clearest image of the activity of God which any art or religion can boast of.”

Two-meter bronze  Nataraja stands outside CERN.

The symbolism of Nataraja has attracted the attention of philosophers and scientists alike—from Aldous Huxley and Fritjof Capra to Carl Sagan. In Cosmos, Sagan compares Shiva’s Tandava to the dance of subatomic particles.Today, a two-metre bronze Nataraja stands outside CERN, the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, where modern science continues to explore the rhythms of the universe inspired by this cosmic dance.

Shuchi Mathur is an art historian, consultant and co-founder of The Delhi Art Trail.